Request to view

This object can be requested via email from the Prints & Drawings Study Room

We don’t have an image of this object online yet.

More about images

V&A Images may have a photograph that we can’t show online, but it may be possible to supply one to you. Email us at vaimages@vam.ac.uk for guidance about fees and timescales, quoting the accession number: E.3035-2004

Moving Railway

Photograph
1929 (made), after 1929 (printed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Ilse Bing (1899–1998) was one of several leading women photographers in the inter-war period. Born into a Jewish family in Frankfurt, she initially pursued an academic career. She taught herself photography to illustrate her own writing on the German Neo-classical architect Friedrich Gilly. In 1929 she bought herself a Leica camera and turned her attention to the new architecture being built around her home town of Frankfurt. The Dutch Modernist architect Mart Stam commissioned her to record several of his ambitious and radical building projects. Dizzy angles, flat plains and strong shadows were all part of a contemporary language of art and design pioneered by both the ‘New Photography’ and the new architecture. In 1930 Bing moved to Paris to concentrate on photography.

Object details

Category
Object type
TitleMoving Railway (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Gelatin-silver print
Brief description
'Moving railway', photograph by Ilse Bing, 1929, gelatin-silver print, printed 1991
Physical description
Black and white photograph of close-up of railway buffers
Dimensions
  • Sheet width: 35.4cm
  • Sheet height: 28cm
  • Image width: 34cm
  • Image height: 22.9cm
Style
Marks and inscriptions
'Ilse Bing 1929 [1991] moving railway' (pencil on reverse in Bing's hand)
Credit line
Bequeathed by Ilse Bing Wolff
Subjects depicted
Summary
Ilse Bing (1899–1998) was one of several leading women photographers in the inter-war period. Born into a Jewish family in Frankfurt, she initially pursued an academic career. She taught herself photography to illustrate her own writing on the German Neo-classical architect Friedrich Gilly. In 1929 she bought herself a Leica camera and turned her attention to the new architecture being built around her home town of Frankfurt. The Dutch Modernist architect Mart Stam commissioned her to record several of his ambitious and radical building projects. Dizzy angles, flat plains and strong shadows were all part of a contemporary language of art and design pioneered by both the ‘New Photography’ and the new architecture. In 1930 Bing moved to Paris to concentrate on photography.
Bibliographic reference
Kennedy, Ian & Treuherz, Julian The Railway: Art in the Age of Steam, New Haven, Conn. ; London : Yale University Press, 2008
Collection
Accession number
E.3035-2004

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdAugust 4, 2004
Record URL
Download as: JSON